Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to acknowledge Diane Diotte and her staff for facilitating our appearance here today. Thank you very much.
We have brief remarks, and I think all of you have received our submission.
Canadians are very concerned about young drivers impaired by alcohol or drugs and older drivers impaired by prescription medications. The Canada Safety Council considers the issue of drug-impaired driving to be a very high priority, and we agree that government action is needed. It is imperative.
The former and current governments proposed the amendments in Bill C-32 to strengthen the enforcement of drug-impaired driving offences in response to this high level of public concern. Criminal legislation must be airtight, because unlike provincial traffic regulations, the accused is innocent unless proven guilty. A very high level of proof is required because for the accused the stakes are very high. Anyone convicted of a criminal offence will carry that record for life. The chances are therefore very high that such legislation will be challenged and loopholes found.
Drug-impaired driving is a very complex issue. Until the enormous problems identified in the Canada Safety Council's submissions are resolved, criminal legislation is premature. That is why we urge the government to put Bill C-32 on hold, until it can meet the rigorous requirements of a criminal court. There are other ways to respond to this serious problem, and we have recommended that these be pursued. The council agrees that immediate precautionary measures are in order, but the priority must be to protect the public from drug-impaired drivers, rather than simply impose criminal sanctions after the fact.
This committee is no doubt aware of Canada's strategy to reduce impaired driving, which is known by the acronym STRID. That strategy started in 1991 and has the full support of all provinces and territories, as well as Transport Canada. Justice Canada must not take unilateral action on impaired driving.
Canada's impaired driving laws are among the strictest in the world. Combined with leadership from STRID, this has led to significant progress in the fight against impaired driving. Between 1995 and 2000, road fatalities involving a driver who had been drinking went down by one third. That said, impaired driving remains a safety problem of the highest priority in this country.
In 2004, the latest year for which comprehensive statistics are available, road crashes involving a driver who had been drinking killed 815 people. Consistently about half of all impaired driving fatalities are the impaired drivers themselves—very definitely not innocent victims.
The absence of national statistics on motor vehicle fatalities or crashes involving drug impairment should be of concern. Good laws are not driven by feelings and opinion polls, but are based on hard facts, credible statistics, and solid research.
l expect that you have all looked at our submission, so l would like to review some of our recommendations.
It should be obvious that we believe Bill C-32 is premature, and we strongly recommend that it be put on hold for the necessary groundwork to be completed. Indeed, the government's priority should be to provide resources, and these include adequate funding to ensure that future legislation has a solid scientific basis and technological support, to identify drugs that can impair driving ability, and to establish defensible impairment levels for each drug and specify the measurement methods.
We have pointed out that more and more impaired driving cases are being pleaded outside the Criminal Code. The government must consider the reasons behind this trend before proceeding with further criminal legislation.
Administrative licence suspensions have proven effective in the fight against impaired driving. Under traffic codes, most Canadian jurisdictions impose 12- to 24-hour suspensions on drivers whose blood alcohol concentration is below the criminal limit. These suspensions remove potentially dangerous drivers from the road. They provide a stern and effective warning, without the punitive lifetime consequences of a criminal record and a costly criminal court case.
The Canada Safety Council has encouraged provincial and territorial governments to impose administrative licence suspensions on drivers who show impairment by substances other than alcohol. That is why we recommend that federal resources should redirect moneys earmarked for the implementation of this bill to help provinces and territories deal with drug-impaired driving under their traffic codes.
One of our key recommendations is that Justice Canada should collaborate with STRID to coordinate any amendments to the Criminal Code with respect to drug-impaired driving. I stress that it could be counterproductive for Justice Canada to enact impaired driving legislation that interferes with the national strategy and counters measures now in place.
Proponents of Bill C-32 say a driver impaired by cannabis poses as much of a risk as a driver who is above the legal limit with alcohol. First of all, the bill is not restricted to cannabis. On top of that, there is no scientific basis to establish impairment by cannabis, or for that matter, any drug.
It should also be noted that the evidence clearly shows alcohol carries a higher risk than cannabis. The underlying problem with this illicit drug is that it is an illegal substance. The focus should be on the fact that so many Canadians are using it at all. Its negative health and safety effects extend far beyond impairment while driving. A national strategy is needed to reduce cannabis use, with an emphasis on youth and habitual users. In our opinion, this is far more urgent than criminal legislation on drug-impaired driving at this time.
It may be counter-intuitive, but there is little evidence that drivers who have used cannabis on its own are more likely to cause crashes than drug-free drivers. It does negatively impact driving ability, although in very different ways from alcohol. THC, the active component in cannabis, can be detected in the body for up to four weeks, but its impairing effects do not last. Relatively few road fatalities test positive for THC alone. Most often it is found in combination with alcohol, a combination that drastically increases crash risk.
Roadside breathalyzers allow police to detect and measure the presence of alcohol. At present there is, unfortunately, no reliable, non-intrusive roadside method to test for cannabis. Even if such a test were available, a defensible limit must be set at which a cannabis-using driver is criminally impaired. Before criminal legislation can be implemented, defensible criteria must be set for THC impairment, alone and also in combination with alcohol, and the government must approve detection tools for use by trained police officers. This process alone could take years, but without it the law will not be enforceable.
l'd like to move on to medications, which are also covered in Bill C-32.
Canadians over age 65 take an average of nine medications daily, including prescription, over-the-counter, and herbal. Medications can have a positive or negative effect on driving ability. Some people, such as epileptics, may not be able to drive at all without medication. Physicians prescribe benzodiazepines to combat anxiety and insomnia among seniors. They can have side effects such as drowsiness, impaired motor function, and confusion, and have been implicated in many collisions.
Seniors taking certain painkillers may experience sedation and mild impairment. Even over-the-counter drugs can reduce driving ability. Antihistamines can cause drowsiness and poor concentration. Tranquilizers or cold remedies such as cold tablets, cough syrup, and sleeping pills can reduce driving ability. Combinations of medications can also produce unexpected side effects and bad reactions. Combining alcohol with medications is very risky, especially for seniors. With age, tolerance for alcohol decreases steadily, and the body does process it less efficiently.
Currently about 22,000 human drugs are available in this country. To identify those that can impair driving—alone or in combination with other substances—and then set defensible criteria for each and approve measurement tools just poses a huge challenge.
With Canada's aging population, legal medications present a health and safety issue that extends beyond driving and must be addressed. The council views this as a very important health and safety issue, but not a criminal issue.
Other strategies, some of which are already in place, would be far more effective and appropriate than using the Criminal Code to prevent driving under the influence of potentially impairing medications. We have therefore recommended that the federal government develop and fund a strategy, including public education, to address concerns associated with impairment by medication. Justice Canada must assess the rationale for and potential consequences of using the Criminal Code as a legislative tool to address medication-related impairment. This issue, in our view, is a better fit with Health Canada's mandate.
To a lesser extent, illegal use of prescription medications such as those with psychotropic properties, as well as the use of illicit drugs such as cocaine, are factors in impaired driving. Targeting cannabis could turn users to other, even more harmful substances.
In summary, we know politicians are under pressure to do something about the perceived increase in drug-impaired driving. However, the proposed criminal legislation is likely to be ineffective, and even counterproductive. We urge you not to risk failure. Address the problem in collaboration with the appropriate agencies outside the Criminal Code at this time.
Thank you very much.